[cyberspacegenie]

Basically you want to keep the main stuff like hard drive, monitor, keyboard etc. look for stuff that is not not essential like modem, usb, IEEE. Google stuff that you are not sure about to find out what they do.

It will take a while but hopefully it should help you to isolate the problem.

[Axegrinder]

So if i disable the usb, that means my mouse is going to go? Sorry im being fickle here. I dont have a modem or anything. But I looked on process explorer, hardware interupt seems to be quite high 40-70%, I dont know if that has anything to do with it.

[evilfantasy]

Out of curiosity what spyware scans did you run.

Also try turning off AVG and see if the CPU usage changes.

[Axegrinder]

I used spybot to do scan for spyware. I'll turn off AVG see if that makes a difference.

EDIT: Turning off AVG has made no difference whatsoever.

[evilfantasy]

http://pcpitstop.com/pcpitstop/

It has to be done with IE. An activex will be placed on your computer but can be uninstalled through add/remove programs.
Click on new members. Don't create an account. (or you can if you wish, doesn't matter) Then click "ready lets go" This will go through a series of tests and the give results.


Under the Windows results it will give an analysis of what is running.
Virus Spyware/Adware Optional Required No data
See what all is optional. It may help in determining what is running that it soaking everything up.

Other then that all I know to do is a good cleaning.
CCleaner
Defrag
Run chkdsk as this will sometimes turn up something that isn't apparent.

[Axegrinder]

Well I have done the PC pitstop test, apparently I have:

Unusually low memory performance
Unusually low hard disk performance

I have run ccleaner and defragged the disk, disabled anything in the "optional" column.

Yet cpu usage is still quite high on idle.

[cyberspacegenie]

Since you say the problem doesnt occur when you start in safe mode, then it sounds like its most likely a software problem rather than a hardware problem.

This sounds like quite an old computer - did the problem happen before??

Also....

Did you try closing down your all your programs? was the problem still there? If not, did you restart them in sequence (with a break between each) to see at which point (i.e. related to which program) that problem came back? It sounds like you only disabled AVG, but you need to everything non windows (e.g. firewall, anti-spyspyware, etc) to find out for sure. Basically the stuff in your system try on the bottom right.

Try downloading another spyware detector like spysweeper or counterspy on trial and run this. In my experience spybot can miss things so in this situation you have to run something else to be sure.

Next stage is to disable all unnecessary start up progs - if you click on start - run - type 'msconfig' then click on the startup tab. You will then need to uncheck anything here thats not necessary. Most likely there will be stuff that you dont know so google them and you will be able to find out what prog they relate to. For example I would uncheck things like jusched, msmsgr and HPZipm (you will have to google and decide any others) - then restart and see if your prob is still there.

Also take a look in - control panel - administration tools - event log. see if there are any recurring errors here that might give you a hint. These are basically the windows error logs.

let us know how you get on. I'll keep my fingers crossed that something here can solve your problem.

[evilfantasy]

Good post cyberspacegenie.

I was going to suggest the msconfig next also. Thats what it is really for is trouble shooting.

The only thing I might suggest different is run one of these online scans. You won't have to mess with any trial versions this way.

Kaspersky Online Scan.

Panda ActiveScan Online Scan.

[Axegrinder]

Well I looked in event log, and there were a few errors such as "W32time" and "DCOM" and "service control manager".

I am doing the Kaspersky online scan now.

Also the computer has problems syncing with the time server if thats any help.

I don't know how old the computer to be exact but i think it was built around 2001-2002, and came preinstalled ( I think) with XP Home (COA sticker etc).

[Axegrinder]

Well kaspersky has come up with nothing.This is really annoying because i want to play games on this pc, but the CPU may overheat if i do.

(Sorry about the double post)